This invention relates to a 3D camera system, particularly to a camera with synchronized scanning and an adjustable lens/camera positioning apparatus.
Stereoscopic or three-dimensional vision may be created on a two-dimensional medium by creating a pair of stereoscopic images; a left eye image and right eye image. If a viewer sees only the left eye image with the left eye and the right eye image with the right eye, the viewer perceives a three dimensional image from the stereoscopic images. Conventional video display devices produce an image by creating a plurality of horizontal display lines interlaced in two fields within a frame.
Stereoscopic cameras have been previously described in a series of issued U.S. patent by Faris and the assignee of this application. They include: U.S. Pat. No. 5,742,333 issued on Apr. 21, 1998; U.S. Pat. No. 5,745,164 issued on Apr. 28, 1998 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,760,827 issued on Jun. 2, 1998, all hereby incorporated by reference. These patents disclose spectrally-multiplexed color images of 3D scenery produced by a camera that records left and right color perspective images and optically process the spectral components thereof.
A 3D camera requires certain mechanical adjustments to produce the most accurate and pleasing stereoscopic image at the display. These include an adjustment to converge the horizontal axes at various points in front of the camera and adjustments to arrange the tilt angle of the two cameras to be identical. The prior art required complicated mechanical arrangements to obtain the optimum settings.
There is a need for a 3D video camera that economically and easily provides stereo images that are in electrical synchronization as well in an optimum mechanical position.